Over the past 120 years, we’ve had the opportunity to serve customers that have spanned several family generations. It's not uncommon for us to open accounts or to help customers buy a home, and have done the exact same thing for their parents, grandparents, or even great-grandparents over the years. Being able to see our customers grow up with us is one of the best aspects of operating as a community bank with so much history.
We even have a number of multi-generational employees here at Queensborough taking care of those very same customers. Throughout our series of Generations Serving Generations stories, we're going to introduce you to some of our “generational customers” who have been long-time Queensborough customers, as well as some “generational bankers” - the parent/child teams who are part of the Queensborough family of bankers.
Meet Tena and Bonnie Wheeler!
Tena has been part of the Queensborough family since 2013 and currently serves as a staff accountant, level 2, in our bookkeeping department. Her daughter, Bonnie, has been with us since 2021 and is an apprentice in the loan administration area.
When asked about what she enjoys most about working with her daughter, Tena said, “I love that I get to see her more often. While working at Queensborough, she’s going to high school, taking college courses, cheering, playing soccer and working. I love every opportunity I get to see her! I would advise anyone thinking about working with their parent/child to take advantage of the opportunity to spend more time with them even if it’s just in passing.”
Growing up, Bonnie actually had aspirations to work with her mom at the bank. I thought she had a really cool job,” she says. “It's great to see her on a regular basis, but I have to admit one of the best things about working with my mom is that I can go to her office and get snacks.” Now if that's not a great reason to work with your mother, we're not sure what is!
We are fortunate to have both Tena and Bonnie as part of our banking family, and we know our customers (and their coworkers) feel the same way. Stay tuned for our next Generations Serving Generations article, as we continue sharing stories of inspiring multi-generational teams.